January U.S. auto sales up 6% from last year

DETROIT — The U.S. auto industry rebounded from last January's sales collapse with one big exception: Toyota, which lost an estimated 20,000 sales after it stopped selling eight models because of defective gas pedals.

Last month, U.S. sales of cars and light trucks to consumers rose 6 percent from a year earlier, thanks to increases in fleet sales and strong demand for newly redesigned vehicles such as the Hyundai Tucson SUV and Buick LaCrosse sedan. Big winners included General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., which all posted double-digit sales increases.

But Toyota's sales slipped 16 percent, and they could fall further as its sales stoppage drags into February. It was the first time since February 1998 that Toyota's monthly U.S. sales fell below 100,000 vehicles, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.

Toyota's troubles helped to knock the Camry off its traditional perch as the top-selling car in the U.S. Last month the Camry ranked fifth in car sales, passed by Honda's Accord, Nissan's Altima, Toyota's Corolla and the Chevrolet Malibu. The Camry has been the top-selling car in the U.S. for the last eight years.

Toyota announced a recall of eight models, including the Camry, on Jan. 21 and halted sales of those models five days later because the accelerator pedals could stick and cause a crash The recall has affected a total of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. Besides the Camry, the other models in the recall include Corolla and Avalon cars, the Matrix hatchback, the Tundra pickup, the Sequoia SUV, and the RAV4 and Highlander.

Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager, said the suspended models amount to 60 percent of Toyota dealers' inventory. All eight saw sales declines. In December, most of them saw increases. The hybrid Prius, which wasn't affected in the recall, posted a 13 percent gain.

Toyota's pain wasn't a gain for other automakers. They saw more Toyota owners browsing in their showrooms but few sales despite incentives offered by GM, Ford and some New York-area Honda dealers.

Ken Czubay, Ford Motor Co.'s vice president of sales, said Toyota's actions may have hurt overall sales because consumers and dealers were unsure of the value of Toyota trade-ins.

"There was a tremendous amount of uncertainty. I don't think the month enjoyed its normal pickup on the last weekend," Czubay said.